The Hardest Things
by Longing for Oblivion
Summary: Mac couldn't be happier when Peyton changes her mind about staying in London. However, soon his joy is tainted by some messy cases, the mystery of the 333 caller and to make matters worse he has to face some so far unknown feelings and tough choices.
1. Changes of mind

_**Discs.:**__ I don't own CSI NY - nor do I own any of its characters or anything you may recognize from the show!  
__**Summary:**__ Mac couldn't be happier when Peyton changes her mind about staying in London and comes back to NYC. However, soon his joy is tainted by some messy cases, the mystery of the 333 caller and to make matters worse he has to face some so far unknown feelings and tough choices.  
__**Pairings:**__ Peyton/Mac, Mac/Angell, hints of Flack/Angell  
__**Genres:**__ Drama, Angst, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Crime, Suspense  
__**Spoilers:**__ You should know all episodes from the season 3 opening "People With Money" up to season 4 episode 10 "The Thing About Heroes", though there are gonna be some variations concerning the events of season 4, mainly things concerning the stalker.  
__**A/N:**__ Well, I already started with this story quite a while ago, so I'm not sure anymore how I came up with it, though like the title it's somewhat inspired by the song "The Hardest Thing" by 98°. Anyway, I recently decided to delete the chapters 5-7 and rewrite them and take the chance to also look over the first 4 chapters, edit and repost them. I also added a new, better and shorter summary. Enjoy reading!_

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**The Hardest Things**

_1. Changes of mind_

Staring out of the window of the cab Peyton couldn't help but frown. She was starting to get more and more nervous by every second that passed. As the cab stopped in front of the crime lab she let out a sigh, she could only hope that it wasn't too late...

Once again she wondered why she had written that damn letter in the first place. Well, she had hoped things could be the way they were before she had left for the US - and at first it had actually seemed like it could really be like it used to.

But eventually she had realized that it was nothing but wishful thinking. After Mac had left for New York things had changed.

She had started to feel like a part of her was missing, she lost her appetite, couldn't sleep - nothing could really cheer her up. It wasn't like she didn't try to deal with the distance between them, she had met up with some of her old friends, she had spent time with her family, went shopping, she had done basically everything to distract herself from missing him.

God, she had told herself that it would get easier with the passing of time, that the job she had been offered was worth it, that it was a great opportunity for her which she couldn't just let pass her by.

Furthermore her family was in London and sure paying them visits, speaking on the phone and stuff like that was nice - but truth been told, she had missed having them around like this. She had missed being able to call them up and ask if they could simply have dinner or lunch together without planning everything for weeks, had missed to be able to simply show up at their door for a surprise visit.

And even though she loved Mac more than anyone else she had ever met, her family should be her main priority, shouldn't it?

So she had written that letter and after about a week of thinking she had decided to simply send it without any more thinking - London was her home, after all, home was were your family was, right?

That had been four days ago, but already the day after she had sent it she had realized that it had been a mistake...

_**Flashback:**_

_Peyton couldn't help but smile as she saw her friend Shannon sitting at a table pretty much in the center of the bar. They had barely seen each other since she had moved to New York, though they had sent each other e-mails every once in a while and even talked on the phone._

_As her friend noticed her approaching she smiled and got up when Peyton had reached the table. _

_After they had hugged Shannon wanted to know,_

_"How are you doing?"_

_"Pretty good... It's nice to be back home." Peyton stated, putting on a smile._

_For a moment Shannon just frowned then she said,_

_"Really? You actually don't seem all that happy to me..."_

_Peyton's smile faded and she let out a sigh._

_"It's just kinda weird to be back in London. Things changed so much since I left..."_

_"Peyton... It's not London that changed - it's you who changed. Don't get me wrong, but you can't just leave and expect that when you come back years later that things are just the way they used to be before you left."_

_They locked eyes and Peyton let her shoulders hang._

_"I guess, you're right..." She paused, _

_"I just hoped that things won't change this much, after all, here's my home..."_

_"Not anymore... I mean, in the back of your mind you know that you don't really belong here any longer. The question is - do you really wanna stay, even though you're not happy here in London?"_

_Later that night:_

_As she got into her car Peyton let out a heavy sigh. She and Shannon had talked for quite a while about old times and about everything that had happened since they had last seen each other. However, talking with her former best friend had opened her eyes._

_Shannon had been right with what she had said, she wasn't as happy here as she was in New York. After she had left years ago to work in the US her friends had kept living their lives just like she lived her own. They had moved on without her - there was no real connection between her and her old friends anymore beside memories of old times..._

_And as much as she hated to admit that she had been wrong - her home wasn't London, it was NYC. Her real friends were there, she loved working at the ME's Office and most of all Mac was there... The truth was if her family wasn't in London she won't have even considered to stay in England, she knew that in the back of her mind._

_After a few minutes of driving tears started running down her face as she realized how messed up the entire situation was. Her letter would soon arrive in New York and she was pretty sure that Mac would never be able to forgive her after reading it. _

_Maybe she should simply book a flight back, maybe she was lucky and he would forgive her - or he hadn't gotten the letter yet, after all, only a day had passed since she had sent it..._

_Making up her mind she wiped away her tears and reached for her purse that was lying on the passenger seat to get her cell phone. When it fell down as she searched with her left hand in her purse Peyton sighed and took a quick glance at the street. Seeing that there were no other cars in sight she leaned down to grab the cell._

_Straightening up, cell phone in her hand, she let it fall down again as she saw a car coming toward her. When she pulled the steering wheel around to avoid colliding with the other car she lost control over her car and couldn't help letting out a scream._

_While the car was racing toward a wall she tried the brakes but it wasn't working, she was simply not getting slower at all._

_Checking her speedometer and seeing how fast the car was she realized how low her chances of survival were if she crashed at this speed into the wall in front of her. Trying once more the brakes her mind started racing when she realized that Mac would probably never know what happened..._

_Mac would get her letter and would be hurt by it, he might try calling her to change her mind. But it was very likely that if he tried and she didn't answer the phone he would probably assume that she simply didn't want to talk with him. He would never know about the fact that she had changed her mind, or about the fact that she was going to crash into a massive brick-wall in a few seconds. _

_He won't hear anything about this, he won't know about her death and it was simply damn unlikely that she could survive this crash. Peyton closed her eyes unable to stand watching how her end was getting inevitably closer by the second. She was crying again, praying to God that she won't die even though she knew that the odds were against her._

_The last thought that crossed her mind before her head hit the steering wheel due to the immense impact of the crash was Mac and how much she wished to see him once more..._

_**End flashback**_

Peyton stopped for a moment on her way up to Mac's office, overwhelmed by the memories of that night. Reaching with her right hand up to her forehead she couldn't help but close her eyes and take a few deep, steadying breaths, realizing once more how damn lucky she had been...

When she had woken up at the hospital her sister and parents had been there. Her mom and sis had been crying and one look had been enough to realize that her father was fighting with tears of his own as well. After a few seconds he had excused himself, saying he was going to get her doctor.

At first she had been confused about how she had gotten to the hospital - and why she was there. But eventually the memories had come back and she hadn't been able to keep herself from shedding some tears of her own.

Considering that they had given her some heavy painkillers it had taken her quite a while to get aware of her injuries. In fact it had taken 'til the doctor had told her about her injuries and how lucky she had been before she had even noticed that she had a huge bruise on her left arm.

But then again she had simply needed a while to comprehend the entire situation before being able to focus on something else.

The fact that she had only a heavy concussion and numerous bruises all over her body was quite surprising considering the circumstances.

After she had woken up she had been incapable of sleeping again, her mind being way too occupied as that she could relax enough to fall asleep. The next morning she had left the hospital against her doctor's advice.

She had gone home, packed her stuff up and got herself a ticket for the earliest flight to New York she could get...

Releasing a sigh she started walking again. She couldn't help but wonder if Mac had already received her letter, and if so how he was going to react when he saw her.

As she reached his office Peyton told herself once more that after what had happened she could handle basically everything. And in case that Mac was mad at her she was determined to find a way to make him forgive her. After all, things had always been kinda complicated between them - ever since they had first met...

Entering the room she saw the letter lying on his desk and sighed for another time. Taking a look at her watch and noticing that it was about four in the morning she came to the conclusion that she should wait 'til the next morning to talk with Mac.

Taking another look around a small smile appeared on her face when she realized that she had made the right decision. Sure the fact that Mac had already read the letter was making things a little bit more difficult than she had hoped, but maybe she deserved that for writing the damn thing in the first place...

Heading out of the building Peyton chose to walk to her apartment, somehow glad that even though she had first wanted to stay in London she hadn't gotten started with organizing anything before the accident.

Maybe she hadn't done those things because she had known all along that she won't stay in London in the end... Whatever the reason had been she was glad about it, that way she had a few things less to worry about.

_The next morning, 10:30:_

Peyton couldn't help but yawn as she entered the lab again. She had refused to get some sleep considering that she needed to get used to the time difference again and didn't want to risk ending up sleeping all day.

Furthermore she had doubted that she would be able to get any sleep if she tried. So instead of going to bed she had wondered about what she should say when talking with Mac, how she should explain to him why she had written that letter.

But she had still no idea of what she should say - probably she shouldn't think this much about it and wait with worrying about it 'til she was standing in front of him. After all, there was no way of telling how he was going to react when seeing her. Maybe he won't be willing to talk with her or even listening to what she had to say...

As she reached Mac's office she sighed, realizing that he wasn't there. For a moment she wondered if she should simply wait for him, but then she turned around not wanting to just sit around. Maybe she was able to find him somewhere in the building, if not she could at least do some catching up 'til he returned from wherever he was.

When she passed the break-room she almost ran into Stella, who was talking with Hawkes about some test results.

"Peyton..." Stella stated in surprise.

Noticing the laceration on her forehead and all the bruises Hawkes gave her a concerned glance and asked,

"What happened?"

"Eh, I had a little car accident..." Peyton replied reluctantly.

"You're okay?" Seeing Peyton nod he visibly relaxed and he went on,

"Well, I gotta go... I'll see you later..."

Looking questioning at Stella Peyton wanted to know,

"Do you know where Mac is?"

"He's at court... Dunno when he will be back." Hearing Peyton sigh she added,

"But I'm sure he's gonna be happy to see you."

Hearing that Peyton couldn't help but frown.

"I'm not all that sure about that..."

"You mean because of the letter?"

After a moment of hesitation Peyton nodded.

"Yeah... How do you know?"

"Well, last night I went to give Mac a file, he was already gone so I wanted to leave it on his desk. The letter fell down - when I put it back I saw that you wrote it..." Stella paused for a moment,

"I didn't mean to read it, really... Anyways, I assume you changed your mind?"

"Yeah... I mean, crashing into a wall put things into perspective and furthermore I realized that besides my family there's nothing that keeps me in London." Peyton sighed,

"And after all, the worst thing that can happen now is that Mac hates me and is never going to speak a single word with me, right?"

"I doubt that will happen... He loves you, he's gonna be happy that you changed your mind." Stella gave her a smile.

_That evening at Mac's apartment, 10 PM:_

As Peyton entered the building she tried to calm herself a little down. She told herself that there was nothing to worry about. After all, she knew Mac and therefore she hoped that he would at least listen to what she was going to say - sure, if he was going to be able to forgive her was a completely different matter.

But she simply _**had **_to keep thinking positive... Maybe he would understand, maybe the fact that she had changed her mind about staying in London would be enough to make up for the damage her letter had caused.

Taking a deep breath she finally lifted her right hand to knock, but then she hesitated. She wasn't sure if she would be able to handle losing Mac - after all, she loved him more than anything or anyone else in the entire world and she knew that she would never find someone she could love like him again.

However, it was a fact that their paths would cross sooner rather than later considering that she was going to continue working at the ME's Office. They would eventually work on the same case and that alone was a pretty good reason for working this out as soon as anyway possible. Furthermore she knew that she couldn't take another day of this uncertainty, of not knowing if she could fix what she had done to their relationship...

Peyton couldn't help but sigh as she realized that she just couldn't do this. The possibility of losing him was paralyzing her, she just couldn't stand the thought of him rejecting her when she told him she was sorry.

Letting her head hang for a moment, trying to figure out what she should do she wasn't aware of someone approaching. So when she turned to leave and looked up again she was taken by complete surprise as she saw Mac standing right in front of her, surprise written all over his face.

_Tbc_

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_**A/N:**__ Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! Please do me a favor and REVIEW!_


	2. Surprises

_**A/N:**__ The next (slightly) rewritten chapter... Hope you're gonna like it!_

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**The Hardest Things**

_2. Surprises_

Entering the building Mac couldn't help but sigh. Probably Peyton was right with what she had written in her letter, maybe it was better this way - and that was the only thing that kept him from flying to London and try to change her mind...

However, he couldn't help but miss her, and the rumors he had heard all through the day after returning from court were not making it any easier.

As he walked up to the door of his apartment he sighed once more. Searching for his keys in the pocket of his jacket he wondered if he would finally be able to get more sleep than in the past nights.

When he had found the keys and looked up he couldn't help but stare in complete surprise at the woman standing in front of him.

"Mac..." Peyton said quietly, looking at him with the same surprise he was sure was also displayed on his own face.

After a moment he walked wordlessly the last few steps to the door to unlock it. A few seconds later he turned to look at her as he pushed the door open.

"Do you wanna come in?"

They locked eyes and a soft smile appeared on Peyton's face.

She wasn't sure what she had expected but it didn't really matter anyways. She was simply happy that he didn't seem mad at her.

When she followed him inside his apartment she felt some of her nervousness fade. After he had closed the door behind them he spoke up again,

"So, the rumor is true? You changed your mind?" He gave her a questioning look.

"Listen Mac, I'm..." She started, but he silenced her by pressing his right index-finger against her lips.

"Don't be sorry..." Mac studied her appearance, her face, for a few seconds before a concerned frown appeared on his face. He moved his right hand to her forehead, tracing carefully the outlines of the wound next to her left temple.

Her eyes flying shut the moment his fingers started brushing softly over her skin Peyton relaxed some more.

As he started caressing her cheek, still a worried frown on his face, Mac asked,

"What happened?"

Peyton opened slowly her eyes and looked at him then she took a deep breath and started,

"I was on my way home after having a few drinks with an old friend and thought about everything. Eventually I came to the conclusion that writing that letter was a mistake, that I simply can't stay in London... I wanted to call the airport to book a flight back here, my cell phone fell out of my purse when I searched for it, so I leant down to grab it after checking that the street ahead was empty. As I looked back up there was a car coming toward me and when I tried avoid colliding with it I lost control over my car and crashed into a wall."

While listening to what had happened he realized that he could've lost her completely without even ever knowing and that fact was somehow scaring him.

"When I woke up in the hospital I knew that I had to get back here as soon as possible - even though you probably hate me for what I've done..."

Hearing that Mac froze for a moment and looked surprised at her, then he put his left arm around her waist and let the fingers of his right hand slide through her smooth hair.

"Peyton, I don't hate you - I could _**never **_hate you..."

"Really? You're not mad at me for writing that letter?" Peyton looked at him, her eyes filled with uncertainty and disbelief then she let her head hang.

He cupped her cheek, making her look back into his eyes.

"Really... To be honest after I read your letter I wanted to fly to London and try changing your mind... But then I realized that it would be wrong to do so." Seeing surprise and a trace of hurt crossing her face, Mac went on,

"I mean, your family is there and during the time I was in London I realized for the first time how close you are with them - how much you're probably missing them. It would have been wrong if I had flown to London and tried to make you come back with me, it just won't have been fair of me to ask you to leave them for me... No matter how much you mean to me, they're your family..."

Hearing that the last bit of her tension faded and when he continued a small smile appeared on Peyton's face.

"And I can't blame you for wanting to be close to them, even if it meant to sacrifice our relationship... However, I'm happy that you changed your mind - I missed you..." He trailed off and leaned down, giving her a soft kiss onto her forehead.

"I missed you as well, Mac. God, I missed you so much..." She closed her eyes for a moment, overwhelmed by her emotions, then she stepped closer, leaning her head against his shoulder.

Mac pulled her immediately closer, holding onto her as if she could vanish any second.

Breathing in his scent she couldn't help but smile softly, realizing that she was at home, that Mac wasn't mad at her...

After a felt eternity Mac made a small step back, though his left arm remained at her waist. For a moment he just looked at her then he leaned in and kissed her softly.

It didn't take long for their kiss to turn more and more passionate as they headed to his bedroom. As they entered the room he started lifting the top she was wearing.

Meanwhile Peyton was trying to unbutton his shirt, what turned out to be quite a challenge since her hands were trembling. So when he dropped her top to the floor he decided to help her with the buttons. Seeing her smile he kissed her onto her forehead, then he focused his attention once more on getting rid of his shirt.

Just a moment later he discarded the light-blue shirt and they shared another passionate kiss, before he kissed softly the side of her neck.

Peyton couldn't help but release a soft moan as Mac started trailing kisses down the side of her neck.

By now they had reached the bed and she laid down, pulling him with her. After a moment she pulled his t-shirt off before letting her hands roam over his chest as he straightened up a bit, while he undid the button of her jeans.

A moment later she let her hands sink down next to her as Mac started pulling down her jeans. For a few seconds he just looked at her, then he took off his own pants, before bending down to kiss her again.

Kissing Peyton Mac steadied himself with his left arm, while he caressed softly her skin with the fingertips of his right hand. It didn't take long before he heard Peyton release a soft moan, causing him to smirk down at her.

_Some time later:_

Watching Peyton sleep Mac couldn't help but smile. He had really missed her since he had left London.

Lifting his one hand he let his fingers slide through her hair, before caressing softly her cheek.

However, only a moment later Mac froze as his cell phone started ringing. As he sat up and grabbed the phone from the nightstand his eyes stopped on the alarm clock which read 3:33 - again.

Answering the call Mac was greeted once more by perfect silence and he released a heavy sigh. Why was he even bothering to answer these damn calls?

Turning around to look at Peyton he felt relieved as he found her still sound asleep. He hadn't told her about the calls and he had no intention to change that, not wanting her to worry. When she had asked him why he had switched hotels he had made up a lie.

After all, what was the point of telling her about it? So far he didn't even know the reason for those calls himself, there was no way of tracing them and apparently they had nothing to do with Peyton, so why should he tell her about it - causing her only to worry?

_Tbc_

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_**A/N:**__ Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! I'm probably gonna post the next chapter soon as well. In the meantime, please do me a favor and let me know what you think and take the time to review!_


	3. The quiet before the storm

_**A/N:**__ Only made a few minor changes..._

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**The Hardest Things**

_3. The lull before the storm_

Waking up to the ringing of his cell phone Mac let out a soft sigh and sat up. After taking a quick look at the display of his cell phone Mac turned toward Peyton and told her,

"I gotta go..." He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss, then he got up and headed into the bathroom.

When he returned to the bedroom he saw that Peyton had gotten up as well.

It didn't take long before he found her in the kitchen. As he entered the room Peyton looked up and stated,

"I thought you could maybe use some coffee..."

Mac couldn't help but smile, then he sat down next to Peyton and wanted to know,

"How are you doing?"

"I'm okay, beside a slight headache, but that's probably just the jet-lag..."

"Will you keep working at the ME's Office?" Mac asked after a moment of silence, seeing her nod he inquired,

"When will you be back?"

"In about a week..." Peyton replied after a moment of thinking.

Emptying his cup of coffee Mac got up. After putting the empty mug into the sink he went back to Peyton, leaned down and gave her a kiss onto her forehead, before turning to leave.

"Mac?" Peyton spoke up, causing Mac to turn back to look at her,

"How about having lunch together?"

Hearing that Mac's smile widened and he answered,

"Sounds great..."

"Good... I'll see you later then..." She said, and smiled as she watched him leave.

_Around noon:_

"Hey Mac..." Stella stated, stopping in the door-way to his office, causing Mac to look up from the file he had been reading.

"What's up?" He asked and gave her an expectant look, considering that they were working on different cases.

"Nothing in particular... I was just wondering if you already talked with Peyton..." Stella replied after a moment of thinking, knowing that it wasn't really her business.

For a moment Mac only smiled then he told her,

"Yeah, I talked with her..." Taking a quick look at the clock on his desk he added,

"In fact I'm gonna have lunch with her in exactly twenty minutes..."

That caused Stella to smile as well then she said,

"Have fun." With that she went to get back to work.

Letting out a sigh Mac got up and went to leave. Actually he was quite grateful that Stella had interrupted him, otherwise he won't have even realized how late it already was.

Shaking slowly his head he entered the elevator and waited to reach the ground floor.

_Meanwhile:_

After Mac had left Peyton kept sitting at the kitchen-table for a little longer, before getting up and getting ready to leave as well. She wasn't quite sure yet what she should do until she would meet Mac for lunch, but eventually she came to the conclusion that she should go home and on her way over she could still think about what to do with her time.

So she headed back to the bedroom and pulled off Mac's shirt, which she had put on after getting up and got dressed.

_About thirty minutes later:_

Entering her apartment Peyton took a deep breath before going to take a shower.

As the warm water ran over her skin Peyton let out a contented sigh and closed her eyes, simply enjoying the warmth of the water.

Turning off the water and stepping out of the shower a smile appeared on her face when she had suddenly an idea of what to do until lunchtime - shopping...

As she got dressed in a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt her smile widened. She couldn't wait for lunch, couldn't wait to see Mac...

Grabbing her purse and keys she let out a relieved sigh, once more realizing how lucky she was that Mac wasn't mad at her for writing that letter. She hadn't expected him to welcome her with open arms back in his life after what she had done.

Closing the door behind her she decided to try stop thinking about all of this for the time being and just enjoy the morning. After all, the weather was incredible and beside her fading headache she was doing great, so why shouldn't she simply have some fun - and what was more fun than a shopping-spree in New York?

_Half-past one PM:_

As she entered the diner and took a quick look around she caught almost immediately sight of Mac sitting at a table in the center of the room and headed over to him.

Sitting down opposite of him Peyton smiled and stated,

"Sorry, that I'm late..."

"Don't worry about it, I just got here about five minutes ago..." Mac replied, smiling cheerfully,

"So, what did you do all morning?"

"I went shopping..." Peyton said, her eyes sparkling,

"How about you?"

"Considering that the case is pretty much routine, I mainly did paperwork." Mac told her, still smiling. Normally he hated paperwork, but since he had returned from London he had begun to appreciate the distraction from his troubles, from missing Peyton...

A moment later he pushed those thoughts away, after all, Peyton was back in his life and therefore he simply wanted to enjoy having her around - without thinking about those damn phone calls or work.

_Tbc_

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_**A/N:**__ Thanks for reading, hope you liked it! Please take the time to review!_


	4. A tough, new case

_**A/N:**__Here's the next chapter..._

* * *

**The Hardest Things**

_4. A tough, new case_

Four days had passed without one of those late-night calls and Mac started to feel at ease. Things seemed to finally get back to normal, Peyton was back in New York; work was, well, it was work - and he had even managed to get some more sleep the past few nights...

Therefore he couldn't help but smile when he woke up. Turning to take a look at Peyton his smile widened when he saw that she was still sleeping.

However, it didn't take long before his cell phone rang and he had to get up. Releasing a sigh Mac went to get ready for work, hoping it was gonna be a quiet day.

_About a half hour later:_

As he entered the victim's apartment Mac scanned quickly, yet thoroughly, his surroundings, his eyes stopping for a moment on the body of a young Latino, who had been shot into the head and was lying only a few feet away from the door. A moment later he continued walking up to Angell, who ended her conversation with one of the unis and turned around as she heard him approach.

"Hey..." She greeted as he had reached her, a soft smile gracing her lips.

"Hey yourself..." Mac replied and they locked eyes for a moment, before he gave her a questioning glance and wanted to know,

"What do we got here?"

"A double homicide... The first victim is Diego Gomez." Angell pointed at the young Latino,

"He had a long record of drug dealing and violent crimes, he also had connections to several different drug cartels. It seems like this has something to do with Diego's illegal activities..."

"What makes you think that?" Mac asked.

"Well, Diego had a reputation of getting himself into trouble by trying to make extra money with stretching the drugs he sold from the cartels to the local dealers and stuff like that - about a year ago that attitude got him almost killed..." Angell started as they headed to one of the adjoining rooms,

"The other victim is Rosa García, she was his girlfriend... Judging by the amount of blood in the bedroom and Rosa's severe injuries it's quite likely that she was tortured prior to her death - Hawkes agrees on that, he also said that she died at least forty to sixty minutes before Diego."

By now they had reached the bedroom and Mac couldn't help but frown as he took a look at the scene in front of him.

Rosa García was lying in her underwear on the bed, her arms were tied to the bed-posts, almost her entire body was covered with blood, her eyes showed a combination of pain, fear and shock and her mouth was wide open as if she was still silently screaming.

"What about the neighbors?" Mac broke eventually the silence.

"As in most of these cases nobody saw or heard anything... There are a lot of illegal immigrants living in this area - most of these people are already way too scared by the perspective of being sent back to their home countries as that they would dare to talk with us. Furthermore the drug cartels and gangs have a lot of influence around here - so it's quite unlikely that one of the neighbors will help us." Angell said and sighed.

Mac only nodded, knowing that Angell was right, after a moment he mused,

"So Diego probably messed with the wrong people..."

"That's exactly what I've been thinking as well and therefore I'm gonna head back to the precinct now and take a closer look at his recent activities - unless of course you still need me here..." She trailed off and looked at him.

"I don't think so... Call in case you find something."

"Sure, see you later..." With that Angell took a last look at Rosa's body, before she turned around and left.

After watching her leave Mac focused his attention on Hawkes, who had just finished his first examination of the body.

"What can you tell me so far?" Mac wanted to know as the former ME straightened up and looked at him.

"Well, like Angell already suspected she has probably been tortured - maybe the killer thought she knew something, or this was a form of punishing Diego... Either way I don't know yet what injury was the one that killed her." Hawkes paused,

"There are several deep lacerations and stab-wounds - I'd say she bled to death, but we can't be sure of that until after the autopsy."

Mac nodded then he asked,

"What about Diego?"

"He was shot in the head when he arrived - probably the killer didn't need him anymore and didn't want to waste time with him..."

_At the lab, around 11:30 AM:_

On his way down to autopsy Mac couldn't help but sigh. He had just gotten off the phone with Angell a few minutes before Hawkes had called to let him know that he was done with the autopsy of Diego. Angell had told him that Diego had made himself a lot of enemies recently by ratting other dealers out and taking over their territory and therefore their list of possible suspects was growing and growing.

'_So much for a quiet day..._' Mac thought as he walked up to Hawkes, who was still examining Rosa's body.

"You said you've got the autopsy results on Diego for me." Mac said, causing the other man to turn to look at him.

"Exactly..." Hawkes stated and went to the stretcher that was occupied by Diego's body. When he had reached it Hawkes grabbed a file that was lying next to the body and gave it to Mac while telling him,

"I was able to confirm that the shot to his head was the COD, death was instantaneous. I also managed to remove the bullet from his head and already sent it up to Ballistics."

"Anything else?"

"Eh, not really... The results from Tox showed that he was taking several different drugs, though that's not really surprising..."

Hearing that Mac nodded and inquired,

"What about Rosa?"

"Well, I just started with the autopsy... However, what I can tell you so far is that the killer took his time with her. Her death was slow and extremely painful... I'm not sure yet about the actual COD though."

Mac took a quick look at the autopsy report in his hands, before stating,

"Let me know when you're done..."

Hawkes nodded and focused his attention back on Rosa's body, while Mac left to get back to his office.

Angell couldn't help but sigh heavily as her cell phone started ringing. Taking a quick glance at the display she hurried to answer the call.

"Hey Mac, what's up?"

_"Well, we might have a lead... Can you come to the lab?" _

"Eh, sure... I'll be there in about twenty minutes." Angell replied and they hung up.

Getting up from her seat she sighed once more, somehow being grateful for having an excuse to take a break from looking through case-files.

_At the lab:_

As she had reached Mac's office she knocked against the open door, causing the CSI to look up from the file in front of him.

Seeing him signaling her to come in she walked up to his desk and gave him a questioning glance. But before she was able to say something Mac wanted to know,

"How is it going with looking for suspects?"

"Frustrating..." Angell stated and smirked, then she asked,

"So, what do you got for me?"

"The autopsy reports on Diego and Rosa..." Mac started, getting up from his seat and handing her the file he had been reading,

"Furthermore we were able to lift a print from a bloody knife Lindsay has found in the bedroom. It's only a partial but it might help us nonetheless."

Taking the file from Mac's hand and scanning quickly the pages Angell inquired,

"Do you already know whose print it is?"

"Not yet, but the knife was most definitely used to kill Rosa."

"Anything else?"

"We got the bullet from Diego's head. Hopefully it's gonna give us a hit in IBIS and I'm still waiting for the results of fiber and DNA samples from beneath Rosa's fingernails..."

Just a moment after Mac had trailed off Lindsay entered the office a cheerful smile on her lips.

"You got something?"

"Yeah, the bullet from Diego's head was a match to a bullet found at the scene of a gang shooting about four months ago. Back then a drug dealer named Freddy Capone was killed..." Lindsay stated and handed Mac the tabloid monitor she had been holding.

"What about the fiber samples?"

"We don't have any results yet..." Hearing that Mac nodded and Lindsay left. After reading what was written on the display of the monitor he spoke up again,

"It says here that this was your case..." Seeing Angell nod he asked,

"Your prime suspect was a guy named David Rodriguez?"

"Eh, yeah... The gun that killed Freddy was also used during a robbery a few years ago. Rodriguez had been arrested for it, but the trial ended with an acquittal due to a procedural failure." Angell said after a moment of silence,

"However, the gun used in the robbery was never found and we didn't find it either during the investigation of Freddy's murder... In the end we had to let him walk, because he had a solid alibi."

"Did you find any kind of link between Rodriguez and Diego while you were looking for suspects?"

Angell released a sigh and replied,

"Yeah, Rodriguez' li'l brother Mikey was one of the drug dealers that went to jail because of Diego. And when I checked Rosa's phone records I found out that she and Rodriguez used to talk a lot on the phone. However, that changed about six weeks ago - Rodriguez still called her, but she didn't answer any of his calls."

"So, maybe Rosa wasn't just killed this brutally to get some sort of information or to put Diego under pressure - maybe it was an intent of punishing her as well..." Mac mused,

"What can you tell me about Rodriguez?"

"He's a real scumbag..." Angell started,

"The first time he went to jail he had just turned twelve. He had been caught delivering drugs to a dealer. The DA had offered him a deal back then - he could have stayed out of jail if he had been willing to tell them where the drugs had come from but he had refused. After he had been released from jail he was almost constantly in trouble." Angell paused for a moment,

"Drug possession and selling, arms trading, theft, armed robbery, assaults, attempted murder, rape - but somehow he always got away with it. By keeping his mouth shut about the origin of the drugs he had been delivering he had earned himself the respect of Jimmy O'Donnel - and eventually took over Jimmy's place. Furthermore he has strong ties to numerous other organized crime families..." Angell went silent once again,

"One thing's for sure we shouldn't bring him in for questioning before we have something that puts him at the crime scene - I mean, sure he had a motive, but so far we can't prove that he really did it. If we get him to the precinct now we won't be able to keep him in custody, and as soon as we have to let him walk he would make sure to get rid of any evidence that could lead to him and get himself an alibi."

Mac nodded in agreement but before he was able to say something his cell phone started ringing and after taking a short glance at the display he hurried to answer the call.

"What's up?" He listened for a moment then he said,

"I'll be right there." Hanging up he told Angell,

"That was Lindsay, she said she found something interesting..." With that he went to leave his office and Angell followed him.

_A few minutes later:_

Walking up to Lindsay Mac wanted to know,

"So, what did you find?"

Lindsay grabbed a file from the table in front of her and turned around, then she said,

"Take a look at this..." Handing Mac the file she went on,

"This is the result from the fibers that Hawkes has found underneath Rosa's fingernails. First of all, the fibers are cashmere, I also noticed that they were dyed. Therefore I ran some more tests, thinking that identifying the dye might help us finding the manufacturer."

"And?" Mac asked.

"It turned out that this specific dye was only used for one collection of a high-end clothing-line... I called the manufacturer and was told that only nine of the twenty-five pieces of the collection were made of cashmere and only one of them was also dyed in this specific color - these fibers belong to a dark-blue, long-sleeved shirt. Furthermore it was a special collection that was designed for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the label - and it was exclusively sold at a store here in New York."

"Do you happen to know how many of those shirts were sold?" Mac inquired.

"All seventy-five - _**but **_I was also told that they keep the receipts for at least a year, which means that we gonna have the names of everyone that bought one of them - well, unless of course that the person paid cash." Lindsay trailed off and smirked.

At that Angell pulled out her cell phone and started dialing a number while telling Mac,

"I'll try to get a hold of those receipts."

Mac only nodded and watched her leave, then he said to Lindsay,

"Good work, Lindsay."

"Thanks..." Just as Mac was about to leave the room as well Lindsay spoke up again,

"Eh, wait a moment... I almost forgot to mention that I also found traces of several different chemicals on the fibers - including ammonia and acetone..."

At that Mac turned back around and gave her a questioning look.

"Well, the first thing that came to my mind was bleach - but the shirt consists of cashmere and bleaching it would cause severe damage - not to mention that bleach would ruin the color..."

Mac nodded in agreement then he asked,

"So, do you already got an explanation for these traces?"

"Not exactly, but we do know that ammonia and acetone can be side-products of the synthesis of methamphetamines and considering that Rodriguez is involved in drug dealing it could be that the traces got transferred onto the shirt at his drug-lab." Lindsay paused and sighed,

"I wasn't able to identify the other chemicals I found on the fibers yet - but I'll continue working on it asap..."

"Good, call when you got something..."

Seeing Lindsay nod Mac left.

When he returned to his office, after making a detour to the break-room for some coffee, he frowned as his cell phone started ringing.

Taking a seat at his desk he hurried to answer the call.

"Taylor."

_"Hey Mac..." _He heard Peyton's cheerful voice on the other end of the line and he couldn't help but smile.

"Peyton... What's up?"

_"Well, I was wondering if we could've dinner together later - or do you have to work tonight?"_ Peyton inquired.

After a moment of thinking Mac replied,

"I'm not sure yet, even though we already have a suspect, we still don't have enough evidence so far to arrest him..." He paused for a moment, before he added,

"But I'll call ya later to let you know when I will be done here, okay?"

_"Yeah..." _Peyton assured and a moment later they hung up.

Deciding that he should probably spend the time while he had to wait to hear from Angell with doing something useful he grabbed a file from a pile of unfinished paperwork.

_Around 3:45 PM:_

Mac had just entered the break-room and was refilling his cup with coffee when he heard someone approach and turning around he saw that it was Angell.

Watching her walking up to him he gave her a questioning glance, eye-brows raised. Judging by the cheerful expression on her face she had apparently not only gotten a hold of the receipts of the store, but had also found something interesting when she had looked them through.

As she stopped in front of him he asked her,

"I assume you found something?"

While raising her right hand, which was holding a file, her smile widened.

"Yeah, I did indeed find something..." She stated and handed him the file,

"Take a look at page four..."

Opening the file and scanning quickly the names on mentioned page Mac couldn't keep a smile from appearing on his face.

"David Rodriguez bought one of those shirts as well..."

After a moment Angell sighed and pointed out,

"There's only one problem, the fibers are not enough to prove that he was really at the scene. After all, there are seventy-four other men that have bought similar shirts. Therefore the fibers are nothing but circumstantial evidence and trust me, Rodriguez is smart enough to know that as well."

"True..." Mac agreed,

"We're gonna need more than the fibers to put him behind bars."

"Well, I might be able to help ya concerning that one." Hawkes' voice was heard, causing Mac and Angell to turn around,

"I finally have the DNA results of the blood sample - it matches the DNA of a reference sample taken of Rodriguez during a prior investigation against him."

At that Mac exchanged a look with Angell who stated after a moment of silence,

"I'll get a warrant for Rodriguez..." And with that she was gone again.

_Mac's office, a couple of minutes later:_

Hearing a knock at his door Mac looked up and raised surprised his eye-brows as he saw that it was Stella.

"What's the matter?" Mac wanted to know, a touch of annoyance etched to his voice, and got up.

Entering the office Stella gave him a questioning glance and asked,

"Everything alright with ya?"

Mac sighed and muttered,

"Yeah, it's nothing..." He paused, then he added,

"So, what brought you here?"

"Well, I think our cases are linked..." Stella started.

"Really? What leads you to that assumption? After all, what have a bunch of dead arms smugglers to do with a murdered drug dealer and his girlfriend?" Mac pointed out.

"Take a look at this..." With that she handed him the file she had been holding and Mac took a quick look through the pages, while Stella added,

"The victims were killed execution-style - with the same gun that was used in your case. The bullets we found at the scene are perfect matches to the bullet from Diego Gomez' head." Stella trailed off.

"What about the timeline - would it have been possible for Rodriguez to kill the smugglers and Diego and Rosa?"

"Yeah, the smugglers got killed yesterday around afternoon - though the bodies weren't found 'til early this morning... and Diego and Rosa were killed last night, right?" Stella gave him a questioning glance and Mac nodded.

"Alright, do you have found any traces of Rodriguez at the scene?"

Stella sighed and replied,

"Not yet, we found quite a lot of potential evidence at the scene, therefore we're still far from finished with examining everything..."

Mac gave her a look and told her,

"I heard about that - from Lindsay... She complained that you're keeping her from getting her analysis of the fibers done..."

"So, that's the reason for your bad mood?"

"Nope, but the budget cuts are..." He stated in response,

"Anyways, Angell is currently getting us a warrant for Rodriguez... In the meantime we should focus on the evidence we have so far."

Stella nodded in agreement and said,

"I'll let ya know when we got something new."

Seeing Mac nod she turned and left, while he got back to his unfinished paperwork.

_About two hours later, at a warehouse:_

Getting out of his car Mac scanned carefully his surroundings. There were several patrol cars parked in front of the warehouse, along with a couple of unmarked cars and a van of Homeland Security. Furthermore there were four ambulances and two vehicles of the fire department standing in the distance.

Taking a deep breath he went over to Angell and Flack who had apparently just arrived as well and were currently checking once more their bulletproof-vests.

"Hey..." Angell greeted when he stopped next to them, while Flack only nodded.

"Hey..." He said in response and took another look at the cars in front of the warehouse, then he asked,

"What can you tell me about the tip?"

"It came from the DEA, they've come across Rodriguez during one of their investigations and are currently keeping a close eye on this place, they also got an undercover that managed to earn Rodriguez' trust..." Angell started and exchanged a look with Flack, seeing him nod, she added,

"Apparently they want Rodriguez out of the picture now to avoid that the cover of their agent gets blown..."

"Are you sure that Rodriguez is in there?"

"Positive. They had a team in the warehouse across from Rodriguez' 24/7 for the past seven months. The DEA agent I talked with said Rodriguez arrived around noon - didn't leave ever since." Flack replied.

"What about the warehouse itself?" Mac asked after a moment.

"Well, to start at the beginning - the DEA spent by now almost a year on trying to build a solid case against a Mexican drug cartal. Their investigation led them to Rodriguez about eight months ago. The undercover was instructed to try to get as much info from him as possible. After he had gained Rodriguez' trust it didn't take long before he found out about this warehouse. And considering that Rodriguez uses this place for all his criminal activities they got a subpoena to put the place under permanent surveillance."

"So, this is still an on going investigation?" Mac inquired when Flack had gone silent.

"Yeah, it is. However, it's not Rodriguez they want - the fish they are after is much bigger than that guy. They only needed Rodriguez because he knows the right people. But like Angell already said, now that the meet-and-greets of the undercover are done Rodriguez has served his purpose. He's no use to them anymore - in fact he's now an unnecessary risk for the cover of their agent." Flack paused for a short moment,

"Anyways, to get back to the results of their surveillance of the warehouse... Like I already mentioned this is the place from where Rodriguez operates. He gets everything delivered straight to this warehouse - chemicals, weapons, drugs, you get the idea... After about three weeks of observing this place they had figured out their routine - when Rodriguez and his people come and go, the pattern behind the deliveries and so on. And during the following two months they watched Rodriguez and his crew go through their normal routine, while the undercover got introduced to all the important people. However, after the first three months the activities in and around the warehouse increased rapidly. While the deliveries came only twice a week at the beginning of their surveillance, they've become more and more frequent during the last four months. By now there are arriving vans delivering stuff here several times a day, the number of people that come and go has also constantly gone up and during the nights there are now always two to four armed man guarding the building."

"What means Rodriguez is apparently up to something..." Angell mused.

Flack nodded and told Mac,

"And judging by what the agent from the DEA told me on the phone - it has to be something huge, considering that Rodriguez has gotten himself some serious firepower during the past weeks. That's also the reason why we chose to get Homeland Security involved as well, after all, Rodriguez killed ten arms smugglers without a blink. Anyways, I was also told that Rodriguez managed to get his hands on quite a huge amount of cocaine..."

"Okay... So, what's the plan?" Mac wanted to know.

"Well, including Rodriguez there are currently about eleven men inside the warehouse. However, I think it's a safe assumption that those eleven men are heavily armed - considering that for what I heard Rodriguez is technically prepared for war." Flack paused for a moment,

"There are only two entrances, the one here right in front of us and the one on the opposite side of the building. A team of ten of our people and five agents from Homeland Security will have the back-door, while everyone else will take this one." He signalled to the entrance in front of them and only a few minutes later they went in.

The moment they had entered the building shots started ringing through the air and it got quite obvious that what the DEA had told them hadn't been an exaggeration.

Scanning quickly his surroundings Mac tried to catch a glimpse of Rodriguez.

Seeing their suspect and another perp running to the stairs that led up to the roof of the warehouse Angell shouted,

"Mac! He's heading for the roof!" And with that she hurried after Rodriguez, soon followed by four other officers and Mac.

When she had reached the roof Angell stopped after a few steps and took a careful look around in search for Rodriguez. After a moment she sighed heavily, as she noticed that there were certainly enough places where he could be hiding.

Starting to walk again she saw something move in the corner of her eye and changed direction to find out if it had been Rodriguez.

Meanwhile Mac had reached the roof as well, along with the other officers. They soon caught sight of the second perp who had gone up the stairs, however, there was no sign of Rodriguez so far.

Heading slowly further toward the other side of the roof Angell couldn't help but frown and stopped next to a little shed that stood a few feet away from the edge. Just as she was about to come to the conclusion that she had been mistaken she heard a low noise from behind. Turning around she saw Rodriguez approaching her and raising the gun in his hand.

Angell pointed her own gun at him and stated firmly,

"Drop your weapon!"

Surprisingly he surrendered almost immediately and let his gun drop to the ground, raising his hands up, while continuing to walk up to her. Angell couldn't help but feel on edge, considering that this seemed simply way too easy to her.

While she was still wondering why a guy with a record like Rodriguez' would give himself up this easily, he had reached her and smirked at Angell, before grabbing the barrel of her gun.

Taking a look around in search for Rodriguez Mac paused and frowned as he caught sight of their suspect and Angell and noticed that they were struggling for her gun. As shots were fired at the far end of the roof Mac turned to look into the direction where the shots had come from.

At the sound of the shots Angell got momentarily distracted and Rodriguez immediately used that fact to his advantage. With one strong pull he had managed to take her gun from her hands and hit her forcibly into the face with it. The blow caused Angell to draw in a sharp breath due the pain exploding in her head.

Seeing that Rodriguez wanted to take this as chance to flee Angell made a step toward him and got a hold of his right arm. Rodriguez stopped and turned back toward her, trying right away to free himself from her grip.

Only a moment later he twisted her arm, causing a wave of pain to race through her right wrist and forearm, before he pushed her away from him - over the ledge of the roof. Angell's eyes widened in shock and a scream escaped her mouth as her left hand gripped the edge of the roof above her.

Hearing Angell scream Mac spun around only to see Angell trying to regain her balance and then she was gone.

It didn't take long before Angell's left arm began burning due to the fact that gravity caused her weight to pull on her arm. As she looked down to the pavement beneath her Angell bit her bottom lip and lifted her right hand, trying to get a hold of the edge of the roof, however, she just couldn't reach it.

Noticing that her fingers began slipping from the edge she tried once more to pull herself back up onto the roof, while calling simultaneously for help, but she simply didn't have enough strength to do so.

Only a moment later Angell let out a scream as she lost hold of the roof.

_Tbc_

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_**A/N:**__Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it. Please do me a favor and REVIEW!_


	5. Scary moments and Déjà-vus

_**A/N:**__ A while ago I decided to delete the chapters 5-7, mainly cause chapter 5&6 were in my opinion way too distracting from the story's main plot. Mainly I just tried shortening the two chapters, removing all the unnecessary stuff and made them one chapter again, also took the time to edit some spelling and grammar errors. I also edited the first 4 chapters, correcting spelling and grammar and such things, also added a better, shorter summary. Anyway, enjoy reading!_

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**The Hardest Things**

_5. Scary moments and Déjà-vus_

For a seemingly endless moment Mac didn't make a move - he simply couldn't, feeling like he was frozen to where he was standing. He just couldn't help but stare in disbelief to where Angell had been standing only a moment earlier - before Rodriguez had pushed her off the roof and she had disappeared. While he was still trying to comprehend what had just happened he heard Angell's voice calling for help, forcing his mind back to the present. Overcoming finally his shock-induced paralysis he hurried over to where Angell had been standing. When he had reached the edge of the roof he saw that Angell was holding onto it, trying hard to get back onto the roof. He had just crouched down and stretched his hand out to get a hold of Angell's arm when her fingers lost their grip, causing her to let out a scream, though he managed just in time to grab her arm before she could fall.

Angell was already expecting the pain of the impact with the pavement when she felt someone grab her left wrist.

"I got ya, Angell..." She heard a familiar voice say, causing her to look up.

As Angell lifted her head and looked at him Mac felt his worry increase again, noticing a deep laceration next to her right temple.

Angell couldn't help but just stare up into Mac's face, being not quite sure if this was maybe nothing but a hallucination and she was already dying. She heard Mac say something to her and saw him stretch out his other hand as well, but her mind was way too occupied with processing the situation as that she could make out the meaning of his words.

"Angell," Mac repeated, when she didn't react the first time,

"Give me your other hand."

Snapping finally out of her thoughts she did as she had been told and lifted her right arm. When Mac got a hold of her hand she couldn't help but bite her bottom lip as a wave of pain rushed from her right forearm throughout the rest of her body.

Seeing the pained expression that crossed Angell's face as he took her hand Mac frowned, but he forced himself to push his thoughts away and focus. After all, right now his main priority was to get her back onto the roof - everything else could wait 'til he had accomplished that task. As he had pulled Angell up and took a closer look at her a worried frown appeared on Mac's face. The wound on her forehead was bleeding quite badly and she seemed to be miles away with her mind.

The moment she was standing on solid ground again Angell felt dizzy and she feared her legs would give way underneath her any second.

Noticing that Angell had trouble to keep herself on her feet Mac reached for her shoulder to steady her.

Feeling Mac rest his hand on her left shoulder Angell felt her walls crumble and before she even realized what she was doing she closed the space between them as tears started running over her face.

For a moment Mac was startled when Angell stepped closer and leaned her head against his chest, pressing her hands tightly against his torso to either side of her burying face, however, after a few seconds of surprise he put his left arm around her waist while resting his right hand on the back of her neck.

Angell tried hard to stop crying, but she just couldn't keep the tears from streaming down her face. Before long her entire body was shaking violently due to her sobs, but there was nothing she could do about it, the shock of what had just happened still too fresh.

Mac remained quiet, not quite sure of what he could say to comfort her, so instead he simply began stroking softly her back after a moment.

Taking some deep breaths Angell inhaled Mac's scent and to her surprise she found that it was calming her to be held by him, the movement of his hand on her back soon beginning to soothe her racing mind.

It didn't take long before Angell's sobs subsided slowly, even though it somehow felt much longer to Mac. A moment later she pulled away, refusing to look at him, and he could tell that she felt embarrassed.

Suddenly becoming quite self-conscious she let her head hang, not wanting Mac to see the tears that were still running over her face. God, she felt pathetic for letting her emotions get the better of her, for losing it in front of Mac... After a moment she mumbled,

"Sorry..."

She spoke so quiet that Mac almost missed it, however, that one whispered word caused him to frown.

"Don't be..." He stated in response. Reaching with his right hand for her face he cupped her cheek and lifted her chin to look at her.

When Mac lifted her head she avoided his gaze, feeling like those intense blue eyes were able to see right into her mind.

"Look at me, Angell, you shouldn't feel sorry for showing emotions." Mac pointed out, while wiping the traces of her tears away.

Hearing that Angell glanced at him for a short moment before she took a look around and asked,

"Where's Rodriguez?"

"He took off, Angell." Mac replied and taking a look at the laceration on her forehead he added,

"But going after Rodriguez can wait, right now it's..."

"No Mac, it _**can't **_wait!" Angell interrupted him angrily,

"He has my gun!"

Mac took a deep breath and stated,

"Listen Angell, there are more than enough other people here to search him - there's no way he will get away, so calm down, okay? Right now it's more important that this wound on your head gets treated." With that he requested over the radio to get one of the paramedics.

"I'm okay, Mac." Angell protested and gave him a stubborn look.

Mac raised his eye-brows at that, as his mind drifted momentarily off to when Peyton had been attacked in the parking-lot. Pushing that memory quickly away he told her,

"I don't think so, Angell. You're bleeding - and that quite badly."

"It's nothing, really Mac, I'm okay." Angell repeated.

"Come on, let's go." Mac said, ignoring her protests as he moved his hand from her face to her shoulder and started leading her to the stairs.

Before they had even reached the stairs Angell freed herself from his light grip. However, after only a few seconds she regretted that as she started feeling dizzy again and her vision became black. Furthermore her headache increased and she squeezed her eyes shut in pain.

As Angell began swaying Mac hurried to get a hold of her, but refused the urge to tell her that this was just another sign that she wasn't okay. When she opened her eyes a short time later he led her slowly downstairs.

_In front of the warehouse, a short time later:_

Leaving the building Mac soon caught sight of a near-by ambulance, where a paramedic was already waiting, and guided Angell toward it. When they had reached it the young woman immediately instructed,

"Have a seat."

"I'm fine..." Angell protested weakly,

"Really, I don't need a paramedic."

"Yes, you do," Mac disagreed, and making her sit down he looked at the paramedic and added,

"Take also a look at her right wrist."

Angell couldn't help but look surprised at Mac for a moment, however, as the paramedic started examining the wound on her head she couldn't help but wince in pain. A moment later the paramedic opened her kit and cleaned the wound, causing Angell to bite her bottom lip and squeeze her eyes shut. After she had treated the laceration the young paramedic checked her pupils and frowned, then she asked,

"Are you in any pain?"

"Just a headache. And I feel a bit dizzy from time to time, sometimes my vision gets slightly blurry, but that's all." Angell replied reluctantly.

The woman nodded and wanted to know,

"Are you also feeling nauseous?"

Angell couldn't keep a sigh from escaping her mouth, then she admitted,

"A bit..."

"That are clear signs for a serious concussion," The woman said and put her light-pen away, before adding,

"Let me take a look at your hand."

Sighing once more Angell lifted her arm so that the paramedic could examine her hand. Taking her hand the paramedic took a closer look at it and frowned. While she began moving Angell's hand in a circular motion to check if the joint might be injured she asked,

"Does this hurt?"

"A little." Angell said after a moment.

Letting go of her hand the paramedic stated,

"Well, even though your wrist seems to be only sprained I'd like to take you to the hospital to get an X-Ray taken and make sure that it isn't broken."

"No, I got work to do." Angell disagreed.

"A concussion is nothing to take lightly, Angell, you shouldn't be working right now anyways..." Mac tried.

"He's right, Detective."

"I'm _**not**_ going to a hospital." Angell repeated stubbornly.

"Angell..." Mac started, but she cut him off.

"I said _**no**_, Mac - I'm fine!"

Hearing that Mac sighed in defeat, why did he even try to make her go to the hospital - even though he knew her good enough to know that she won't do him that favor?

"Alright, but I'm gonna bandage your wrist - and in case that your symptoms get worse you should immediately see a doctor." The paramedic surrendered as well.

Angell only nodded and watched as the paramedic opened her kit again to get bandaging material. However, a moment later she focused her attention back on Mac as his cell phone started ringing.

Taking a quick glance at the display of his cell Mac frowned and hurried to answer the call.

"Hey, what's up, Lindsay?"

_"Listen Mac, you have to evacuate the warehouse." _Lindsay stated, her voice sounding urgent, and the frown on Mac's face grew.

"What are you talking about?" Mac asked after a short moment.

He heard Lindsay take a deep breath, then she explained quickly,

_"Well, to make it short, I finally finished the analysis of the fibers and judging by the chemicals I found it looks like Rodriguez might be storing explosives in there."_

As Angell noticed the look on Mac's face she wanted to know,

"What's the matter?"

Looking at Angell Mac sighed and told Lindsay,

"Hold on a second..." he then focused his attention on Angell and told her,

"Listen Angell, we need to get everybody out of the warehouse immediately."

Angell frowned for a short moment, but nodded and turned to head back to the warehouse, however, she stopped as Mac spoke up once more,

"And try to get the cars away from the building."

Angell nodded another time and hurried over to a group of officers, who were standing at the entrance of the warehouse and leaned over something, probably they were organizing currently the search for Rodriguez. Watching Angell talk with them Mac asked Lindsay,

"You notified bomb squad?"

_"Yes, I also gave them a list of the chemicals I found. They are already on the way." _She replied.

"Alright, thanks for your call..."

While watching how the cars were driven further away from the warehouse Mac noticed Flack coming toward him. He seemed quite exhausted and extremely upset. When the younger man had reached him Mac wanted to know,

"You're OK?"

Flack shook slightly his head and replied,

"We lost Rodriguez about seven minutes ago." Taking a look around he added,

"What's going on, Mac?"

"Well, it could be that Rodriguez is storing explosives inside the warehouse." Seeing Flack nod he wanted to know,

"What about Rodriguez?"

Flack sighed and replied,

"Like I said - I lost him a few minutes ago, no sign of him yet. However, he can't escape us - we got the entire area on lock down. No vehicle gets in or out without being checked thoroughly by police officers. And in case that he attempts to flee by water we alerted harbor patrol - every ship is being kept from leaving the port until checked. I already requested back-up to speed up the search for him."

Hearing that Mac nodded and inquired,

"What about his crew?"

"As it turned out there were more men in there than we thought, but we caught eleven of them, four were killed and the guy who went up on the roof with Rodriguez was seriously injured - he probably won't make it. They're being processed and interrogated as we speak."

_About fifteen minutes later:_

Bomb squad had just arrived and the officers were just getting their robot ready to check the warehouse when Angell headed over to where Mac and Flack were standing, trying to ignore the dizziness she felt. When she had reached them she nodded toward the bomb squad guys and asked,

"You think there's a bomb in there?"

As Angell had reached them Mac couldn't help but frown again and, considering that he hadn't seen her since he had told her to get the warehouse evacuated, began wondering where she had been all the time. Taking a closer look at her while answering her question, he noticed that Angell's eyes were reddened and seemed quite glassy as if she was running a fever, furthermore her hair was slightly damp and he could see beads of perspiration on her forehead.

"What about Rodriguez?" Angell wanted to know once Mac had finished and Flack repeated what he had already told Mac.

Trying hard to listen to what Flack said, Angell took a few deep, steadying breaths as the nausea returned with all its force, but as much as she tried she couldn't really understand what was said. Lifting her head she let her eyes wander around, but somehow everything seemed out of focus. Soon her surroundings were nothing but a huge blur and so were Flack's words.

"It's a lot of ground to cover but..." Flack trailed off as he noticed that Angell had gone totally pale, her entire body was trembling and her gaze was wandering unsteadily around.

"Angell, you're okay?" Mac asked, concern written all over his face, and that worry even grew as Angell didn't show any reaction.

As the surrounding noise became increasingly distant Angell lifted her left hand to her forehead, closing her eyes she tried to relax, hoping that it might cause the nauseous feeling to subside again. But no such luck, instead she started feeling light-headed and a moment later she heard distantly how someone called her name as everything around her went black.

"Angell!" Flack exclaimed, slightly shocked as her legs gave way underneath her.

Mac quickly got a hold of her, before she could hit the ground. He then rested her carefully on the ground and checked her vitals.

"How is she?" Flack wanted to know.

"Well, her pulse is quite accelerated and her breathing is slightly laboured." Mac replied, a frown on his face, then he sighed and added,

"According to the paramedic who checked on her earlier she has a concussion. But she refused to be brought to a hospital."

Hearing that Flack nodded and stated,

"Refusing to see a doctor, no matter what just to prove how tough she is... Yeah, that most definitely sounds just like Angell." Looking at Angell he added,

"Hey, I think she's coming to..."

When Angell opened her eyes and sat up Mac wanted to know,

"How are you?"

Hearing that Angell only glared at the two men and muttered,

"I'm fine..." With that she got quickly to her feet. However she was barely standing when she already regretted doing so as she started swaying, having trouble to keep herself up.

"Easy there." Flack stated and put an arm around her.

Squeezing her eyes shut she felt a wave of heat rush through her as the nausea returned in the matter of seconds. She tried to take some deep breaths but found that she couldn't breathe properly. Only a moment later she bent over, her arms crossed against her chest and heaved violently. But all that came was bile, considering that her stomach was already empty from when she had thrown up earlier.

Watching Angell Mac frowned worried and exchanged a concerned look with Flack. As she straightened up she tried to free herself from Flack's hold, but he didn't let go of her. Meanwhile Mac pulled out his cell phone to call for an ambulance, but as he looked at the display he noticed that he had no service. Releasing a sigh he stated,

"Flack, I want you to bring Angell to the hospital."

Before her colleague could say something in response Angell protested weakly,

"That's unnecessary. I'm OK, really, I can..."

"No, Angell, you're obviously not OK!" Flack interrupted her angrily,

"Just a few minutes ago you fainted!"

"Flack is right... You know as well as we do that you're in no condition to stay here, let alone to work right now." Mac tried to reason with her, causing Angell to glare at him,

"After all, you can barely keep yourself on your feet..."

"Fine!" Angell hissed, realizing that she was only wasting her energy with her protests - and it won't keep them from bringing her to a hospital nonetheless. Furthermore she was well aware of the fact that it was unreasonable to insist on staying. Besides, what could she currently do anyways? She felt terrible and therefore she probably won't be any help right now.

Flack sighed relieved and stated,

"Alright, then let's go," and turning to lead Angell to his car he told Mac,

"I'll be back as soon as I got Angell to the hospital."

"Okay." Mac replied and watched them head over to where Flack's car was parked. Once they had driven away he went to check on the bomb squad's progress.

_Thirty-five minutes later:_

While waiting for the bomb squad to get finally done Mac couldn't help but wonder how Angell was doing. So far he hadn't heard anything from Flack, but then again, bomb squad had jammed all radio frequencies in the area - which meant also no cell phone service.

Taking a look at his watch he released a heavy sigh. This entire waiting was driving him insane, but in situations like this it was better not to take any unnecessary risks - especially with Rodriguez still on the loose. And after all, who knew what this guy might be storing inside the warehouse...

Entering the mobile command center Mac asked,

"How's it going?"

Turning to look at him the leader of the bomb squad summarized their findings up to this point. However, Mac only partly listened to what he was hearing, his mind drifting several times off, to the question how Angell was doing.

"We're done..." The bomb squad leader interrupted his train of thought a little bit later.

"So, the warehouse can be processed now?" Mac asked and the man nodded.

Once cell phone service had been restored he left the bomb squad's mobile command unit and called Stella, telling her to get to the warehouse with the rest of the team. After hanging up and pocketing the cell phone he first went to his car and got his kit before already heading inside the warehouse.

Entering the warehouse Mac paused and took the time to scan carefully his surroundings. Next to the back-entrance were two black Hummers and a silver SUV parked. Most of the wall to his left was occupied with shelves full of chemicals, while almost the entire front of the building was occupied by crates of varying size. In the left corner at the opposite side of the warehouse he saw several big tables with expensive looking lab equipment, which Rodriguez and his men had apparently used to produce their drugs. After his first look around from where he was standing he started walking again, wanting to already get a general idea of what would have to be done.

He was just returning to the front of the building when he heard Stella call,

"Mac?" And looking up he saw his team approaching.

When they had reached him he instructed,

"Danny, Lindsay I want the two of you to focus on the shelves over there, and the lab equipment in the back. Hawkes, you focus on the bodies, Stella, you and Adam are gonna process the cars. I'm gonna take a look at the roof."

_Some time later:_

After getting back from the roof Mac went to check on his team's progress, starting with Danny and Lindsay. A moment after he had reached them and they had started telling him what they had found so far Stella approached them and stated,

"We're done with the cars. I already organized that they get to the garage so we can take a closer look at them - because there's certainly something off about them."

At that Mac raised an eyebrow and wanted to know,

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not quite sure yet, it's mostly a hunch at the moment - but it can't be a mistake to check them more thoroughly."

"Good, I want Adam to head back to the lab to see if he and the other techs can find something." Mac said in response.

Stella nodded and went to talk with Adam.

_Twenty minutes later:_

After the cars had been picked up to be brought to the lab's garage they were now focusing on photographing the crates and dusting them for prints, while Hawkes was still busy with the bodies. Mac had just lifted a hand-print he had found on the lid of one of the crates when he saw Flack approaching.

"You're already back?" Mac asked surprised as the other man had reached him.

"I wanna get Rodriguez asap!" Flack said, an angry expression on his face,

"This guy almost killed Angell."

"So, she told you what happened on the roof?" Mac assumed.

"Yeah, surprisingly she did. However, with Angell being at home..."

"What?! Why is she at home?" Mac interrupted him.

Flack sighed and replied,

"Because she made clear that she has no intention staying in the hospital for more than a quick examination - no MRI of her head, no tests, no anything... After ten minutes the doctor surrendered, prescribed her something against the nausea and headache and let her go. After all, Angell would have only gotten totally agitated if they had tried to keep her there - and that would have been more than just a little counter-productive, considering that she could currently really use some rest." Flack paused for a moment, then he suggested,

"Anyways, how about taking a look into those crates now?"

"Good idea." Mac agreed and after they had found a crowbar to remove the lid he opened the box in front of them.

As he had lifted carefully the lid a moment later and he and Flack took a look inside the crate they both frowned.

"Bomb making materials?" Flack mused, looking questioning at Mac, who nodded in confirmation.

"And C-4." Stella stated, motioning to the box in front of her.

"Explains the chemicals Lindsay found on the fibers..." Mac remained silent for a few seconds, then added,

"The question is where is the C-4 coming from - and what was Rodriguez planning with it."

"Woah, Mac, check this out!" Danny called from a few feet away and Mac headed over to him, soon followed by Flack.

As they had reached him, and they had taken a glance at the content of the three crates closest to Danny, Mac and Flack exchanged a look.

"So, the DEA's undercover agent was right, Rodriguez really managed somehow to get a huge amount of drugs into the country." Mac said after a moment.

"Why do I suddenly have a very strong sense of déjà-vu?" Flack stated staring at all the cocaine in front of them.

At that Mac couldn't help but frown. Only a few seconds later that frown even grew when a young officer signalled Flack to come to him. As Flack had reached the man, the officer started, a little breathless,

"We just found out that Rodriguez managed to leave the docks..."

"What?!" Flack cut him angrily off,

"How could this happen?"

The uni sighed heavily and told him,

"He forced one of our guys to bring him out of the search area. They left in an unmarked car, Rodriguez was apparently hiding in the back. A few miles away from the docks he stopped, handcuffed and gaged the detective and left him behind in the back of an alley next to some restaurant." The man trailed off.

"What else?" Flack inquired.

"Well, the officer, a Detective Miller, was just found by an employee of the restaurant who had gone to the alley to smoke. Miller is alright. A description of the car is already out." Came the reply.

"Thanks..." Flack said and signalled the uni that he could leave.

Taking some deep, calming breaths and shaking slowly his head in disbelief Flack went back to Mac and the others. As he had reached them Stella walked up to them as well, stopping next to Mac she stated,

"I just got off the phone with Adam and apparently it was a good idea to check the cars. He said he found a gun hidden in one of the Hummers. It matches the type of gun used to kill the arms smugglers and Diego and Rosa. They're gonna check if it's the murder-weapon and if there's a way to prove that Rodriguez was also the one who used it last. Furthermore he found a laptop, he's already busy with trying to find out what's on it."

_In front of the warehouse, a little while later:_

Like always the interest of the media in the raid was huge and considering that Rodriguez was still in the wind it had been decided that there should be a press-conference asap. _'Yeah, this is most definitely just like a déjà-vu...' _Flack thought as he looked into the faces of the reporters in front of him. Taking a deep breath he eventually started,

"Around half-past eight this evening the NYPD was able to seize at least eighteen-hundred kilo of cocaine, with an estimated street-value of almost 250 million dollar. Furthermore we were able to arrest eleven members of the O'Donnel clan in the raid prior to the discovery of the drugs."

"Is it true that the actual goal of the raid was to arrest a suspect in the investigation of the murders of a group of arms smugglers yesterday afternoon and a drug dealer and his girlfriend last night?" A young reporter asked before he could say something else.

"That's correct. However, unfortunately he avoided capture. The suspect is David Rodriguez, the current head of the O'Donnel clan." Flack said and lifted a picture of Rodriguez into the cameras,

"Rodriguez is believed to be armed and dangerous..."

"How did he escape? After all, following the raid the entire area had been locked down - even the port was temporarily closed." An Asian woman from CBS wanted to know.

"David Rodriguez forced a police officer to bring him away from the docks." He stated, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"We understand that it came to a shootout during the raid. Were there any casualties?" The woman inquired.

At that question Flack frowned, his eyes darkening as he felt his anger returning, after a moment he replied calmly,

"Four suspects were killed during the raid, a fifth died on the way to the hospital. Furthermore one officer suffered minor injuries," He took a deep breath then added,

"Another detective sustained serious, though non-life-threatening, injuries and was brought to a hospital."

While Flack was waiting for more questions another officer approached him and told him just above a whisper,

"Detective Taylor wants to speak to you."

Frowning Flack nodded then he stated, pointing at one of the detectives standing next to him,

"Please excuse me... Detective Granger will answer any remaining questions." With that Flack turned and headed back inside the warehouse.

_Meanwhile inside the warehouse:_

While Flack went to speak at the press-conference Mac and his team continued to process the scene and to check what the crates were containing. Besides the explosives and coke they had also found a crate full of uncut diamonds by now. Meanwhile Hawkes had finished his first examination of the bodies and after they had been picked up to be brought to the morgue he had started processing the warehouse as well. After photographing and dusting another two crates Stella and Hawkes exchanged a surprised look as they took a look at the content of the crates.

"I guess we just found Rodriguez's motive for killing the arms smugglers." Stella stated after a short moment of thinking and took another look at the guns they had just discovered.

"He wanted his weapons for free." Lindsay said as she stopped next to her two colleagues,

"I found a crate full of hand grenades and another one filled with high-caliber ammunition over there." She added, pointing into the direction she had come from.

Shaking slowly her head Stella turned back toward the crate in front of her and photographed the content. However, only a moment later she focused her attention back on her colleagues as she heard Danny say,

"This warehouse is a pure powder keg - there are another five crates with high-caliber weapons and matching ammunition at the other end of the warehouse."

Taking a look around Mac frowned for a moment, then he signalled to one of the uniformed officers to come over. When the man had reached him he told him,

"Get Detective Flack here."

The man nodded and left.

As Flack approached Mac a short time later Stella, Hawkes, Lindsay and Danny had already gone back to take a look at the other crates.

"You wanted to talk with me?" The young detective asked and stopped next to Mac.

"We found the weapons the DEA mentioned." Mac replied, causing Flack to nod,

"Any sign of Rodriguez so far?"

"Nope..."

"Mac," Stella said then,

"We're done."

"Good, then let's get this stuff to the lab. We need to know from where exactly Rodriguez got all this, the origin of the diamonds and if one of the weapons was used in a crime." Mac pointed out.

"I already called the lab to arrange it." Stella told him and he nodded.

"I want you and the others to already head back to the lab and get started with the rest of evidence, while I monitor the transport of the crates." He instructed.

_At the lab, a half hour later:_

While Mac was still at the warehouse Stella and the others had already started to take a look at the evidence they had collected. Not much later Adam called Stella into the A/V lab as he saw her in the hallway.

"What's up, Adam? You found something on the laptop?" Stella asked walking up to him.

"Eh, no, I just managed to gain access to the hard-drive about ten minutes ago and I still need to crack the encryption Rodriguez used for the files. This guy is certainly a total security fanatic, that's why I wanted to talk with ya..." Adam started, a contrite expression on his face.

"What's the matter?" Stella inquired when he didn't continue.

"Well, I eh... I..." He paused and took a few deep breaths, then tried once more,

"When I told you about the gun and the laptop earlier I forgot to mention that the Hummers were severely armored - bulletproof windows and tires and all that stuff."

"Do you happen to know where Rodriguez got that done?" Stella wanted to know.

"No." Adam admitted.

Stella nodded and told him,

"Let me know when you have something new concerning the laptop."

"Sure."

Stepping out of the A/V lab Stella continued on her way to Ballistics to bring some more bullets, firearms and casings to Lindsay and Danny.

_Meanwhile at autopsy:_

Considering that the other MEs were still busy with examining the dead arms smugglers and some other bodies that had come in throughout the day Hawkes had decided to help with the autopsy of the five perps that had died during the raid, while the others focused on examining the evidence.

"Sheldon." Sid stated as he saw the younger man approach.

"Hey. Have you already started with the autopsy of the bodies that were sent over from the warehouse?" Hawkes wanted to know.

"Yes. This is the guy who died on the way to the hospital. His prints IDed him as Michael Turner." Sid replied.

"COD?"

"Due to the immense bloodloss he went into shock, which caused an aneurysm in his subclavian artery to burst. The guy was a ticking time-bomb, if he hadn't been shot today he could've died any other moment." Sid told him.

"What about the other guys from Rodriguez's crew?"

"Are still waiting to be examined."

"Well, considering that they were killed in the shootout at the warehouse I doubt that we will find anything surprising concerning the COD. The more important thing is to ID them." Hawkes said and went to get one of the bodies from the freezer.

_A half hour later:_

After Mac had watched how the crates were one by one brought from the transporter into the lab, while Flack already headed inside, he let out a sigh and went to check on what his colleagues had found so far. On his way up he got once more lost in thought, wondering how Angell was doing. However, only a moment later he frowned as he saw Sinclair talking with Flack.

"Chief Sinclair." Mac stated as he had reached them,

"What brings you here?"

"Well, first of all I wanted to check on your progress with the evidence." Sinclair replied.

"It's gonna take a while 'til we're gonna be done with examining everything." Mac told him.

"That's what Bonasera told me as well. I want to be informed as soon as you find something of interest," Looking at Flack he added,

"Or if there's a sign of Rodriguez. As you might have noticed I increased the number of security guards. So, I assume that there won't be any trouble this time." With that he went to leave, but only a second later he stopped and stated, while turning to look once more at them,

"Oh, one other thing, Taylor... You better not even think about doing something that could blow up this lab again - got that?!"

"Of course." Mac replied. After watching Sinclair leave he said,

"Let's see what the others found so far."

_Conference-room, seven minutes later:_

Entering the room Mac was glad to see that his team was already waiting for him. As he took a seat at the head of the table he asked,

"So, what do we got so far?"

"Well, the gun Adam found in one of the Hummers was indeed the murder-weapon, it was recently used and we got Rodriguez's prints all over it." Lindsay started,

"Furthermore, first examinations of the firearms Rodriguez's crew used during the shootout showed that most of them were used in past crimes. We found links to twenty-three unsolved murders and already requested access to the evidence from the related investigations."

"Good, what about the diamonds?" Mac said, looking at Stella.

"Like we suspected, they're blood-diamonds. We found traces that suggest they originate from Angola. However, there's no way to determine for how long they are already in circulation, or who had contact with them."

Before Mac was able to ask any further questions Flack's cell phone started ringing and the other man hurried to answer the call. Flack listened for a while, then he asked,

"Where?" He frowned and a moment later he told the other person,

"Okay, get it to the crime lab asap. Thanks." Hanging up he looked at Mac and explained,

"They just found the car in which Rodriguez fled abandoned in Harlem. However, no sign of him so far. They're focusing the search in that area now, furthermore they will keep their eyes open for stolen cars - considering that it's quite likely that Rodriguez will try to leave the city. Therefore we also got road blocks on all entry-streets and check every car that attempts to leave New York. And to avoid that he can escape again the way he did at the docks they're also checking police cars." Flack paused for a moment,

"For the case that he somehow already managed to leave the city we alerted every precinct in the state as well as in New Jersey and Connecticut. Every police patrol has a description of Rodriguez and his picture was faxed to every broadcasting station at the East Coast. Furthermore we got people at every bus-stop, railroad station and airport. Harbor patrol is alerted and checks every ship that looks even the least suspicious to them. Border authorities are notified as well and instructed to increase their controls."

"They're sending the car here?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, it's already on its way over."

"Alright." Mac said, focusing back on the briefing he wanted to know,

"Hawkes, what can you tell me about the guys that got killed during the raid?"

"Well, beside the guy who died on the way to the hospital they all died due to their injuries." Hawkes replied.

"We've got their IDs?" Mac inquired.

"Yeah," Hawkes said and typed something on the keyboard of the laptop in front of him, putting the info onto the monitor on the wall,

"The guy from the roof, was Michael Turner, 39 years old. Spent fourteen years in jail for manslaughter, furthermore he was involved in numerous drug-related crimes. Like the other four men he had direct ties to the O'Connel clan."

"What about the others?"

While pulling the rap-sheets of the four other guys Hawkes stated,

"Charles O'Hare, he was O'Connel's right hand before Rodriguez took over the clan. Furthermore he was a suspect in a double homicide a year ago, but they couldn't prove anything and had to let him walk. Danny Lopez, just got out of jail two months ago, he and Tony Roberts..." Hawkes pointed at the picture right next to Lopez's,

"... were Rodriguez's men for the rough stuff. They were responsible for collecting protection money, took care of members of the clan that somehow lost Rodriguez's trust and so on. The last guy's Johnny Diaz, he was one of Rodriguez's dealers, he was in jail numerous times."

Mac nodded then he inquired,

"Where's Adam?"

"Still working on trying to access the files on the laptop." Stella said.

"Okay." Mac paused as a lab tech came in and told him that the get-away-car had arrived. He nodded and after the woman had left he stated,

"Lindsay, Danny I want you to take a look at the car Rodriguez used to flee." As his two colleagues nodded, got up and left, he turned to Hawkes and Stella and said,

"You two get back to the firearms, I'll help you when I talked with Adam." As they all got up and left the conference-room Mac told Flack,

"I want you to stay here 'til we know what's on the laptop. Maybe there's something on there that gives us a clue on where Rodriguez could be."

"Sure." Flack replied and they left the conference room to head to the A/V lab.

Only a moment later Flack's cell phone started ringing and quickly answering the call Flack paused. Mac also stopped waiting for Flack to finish his conversation. Once Flack had hung up Mac gave him a questioning glance, waiting for the other man to tell him whether there was anything new regarding the search for Rodriguez, and Flack told him while they started walking again,

"PD just finished looking into Rodriguez's assets, those he possesses under his real name and his known aliases that is, and put a trace on his accounts. If he tries to access any of his bank accounts we will know." He paused briefly, then added,

"Furthermore they told me that Rodriguez has four cell phones registered to him."

"Adam can try to track the cell phones down." Mac pointed out, causing Flack to nod.

"What can you tell me about the laptop, Adam?" Mac asked as they entered the A/V lab only a few moments later.

Taking a deep breath the lab technician started,

"I'm still working on it." At that Mac raised his eye-brows and Adam explained,

"It seems like Rodriguez is more than just a little paranoid. The security system on the laptop is extremely sophisticated, so far I wasn't able to crack the encryption. But the decryption algorithm is currently running, I should get access to the actual files any moment." He paused a moment then asked,

"Anything else I can do in the meantime?"

"Actually there is." Mac said, then told the tech,

"Rodriguez apparently has four cell phones, none of which were found at the warehouse or in any of the vehicles, which means he probably still has them on him. So I want you to try to locate them."

Adam nodded and after Flack had given him the numbers and the name of the carrier he started typing. A moment later he frowned and told them,

"They are turned off. However, some types of cell phone can be turned on remotely with the help of the carrier..." Adam trailed off when a beep was heard and glancing at the screens in front of him he mumbled,

"Finally..." Returning to his seat in front of the laptop he smiled and stated,

"Now let's see what Rodriguez wanted to hide so badly." With that Adam started typing.

"Well, maybe we're gonna be able to find something on there that could explain what he was up to." Mac pointed out.

"Or what he needed all the weapons for." Flack added.

After a few minutes of looking through the folders and files on the laptop Adam paused and told them,

"Looks like this is where Rodriguez kept track of his activities, boss." He turned to look at Mac and Flack,

"From what I saw so far there's records on how much drugs he got, how much were sold a month, how much money he overall made and with what, who owed him money... It's pretty extensive."

"Explains the precautions he took to keep other people from accessing the laptop's contents." Mac stated. After a moment he added,

"Adam, see if you can find anything that could tell us where he could have gone after he escaped."

Adam just gave a nod and started typing again. A little while later he said,

"I think I might have something..."

"What is it?"

"His contact list, I think. Bunch of names, phone numbers, addresses..." Adam replied, a slight frown on his face, then added,

"Already printing the list out so you can run the names." And sure enough only a moment later they could hear the printer start. Once the list was finished printing Adam took the paper out of the printer and handing them to Mac he told him,

"Here you go..."

"Thanks." Mac stated, taking the list, then instructed,

"While we look into Rodriguez's contacts I want you to try to locate his cell phones."

"I'm on it." Adam assured with a slight nod,

"I'll let ya know as soon as I got a location on one of them."

Mac nodded at that, then left the A/V lab together with Flack to get started with looking into the names on the list Adam had given them. Meanwhile Adam focused back on his computer and started working on tracking Rodriguez's cell phones.

As they left the A/V lab Flack stated,

"I'll head to the station and take a look at Rodriguez's contacts."

Nodding in agreement Mac handed the other man the list Adam had printed out.

_Some time later:_

Once Flack had left Mac had gone to check on the progress of his colleagues, before starting to process some evidence himself. He had just finished processing some of the numerous remaining guns they had found at the warehouse and was heading to the breakroom to get some coffee when Adam called him and told him that he had located one of Rodriguez's cell phones. After Adam had given him the address Mac had quickly headed to leave, calling Flack on his way to the parking lot.

Now, less than twenty minutes later, he and Flack along with a bunch of other officers were getting ready to head inside the building and arrest Rodriguez. After reminding the others that Rodriguez was armed and dangerous they hit the door and went inside.

It didn't take long before Flack and two unis had found Rodriguez sitting in the middle of one of the rooms on the second floor. Apparently he had heard them, considering that he jumped up and attempted to flee.

Watching Rodriguez making a beeline for the other door of the room Flack stated over the radio,

"Mac, he's coming your way."

"I got him." Mac replied, while going after their suspect.

Meanwhile Flack and the two unis had changed direction to block Rodriguez's way out of the building. Only a moment later Flack heard Mac shout,

"NYPD, freeze!" Apparently Rodriguez didn't listen the first time since Mac repeated,

"I said freeze!"

Instead of surrendering Rodriguez turned his head toward Mac, while continuing on his way, and shot at him. However, by focusing his attention on Mac, who was still following him, dodging the bullets, Rodriguez didn't see Flack appear in front of him. Before Rodriguez could realize what was happening Flack had grabbed him and pushed him forcibly against the next best wall. Disarming the man Flack hissed,

"You're under arrest." Handcuffing him he let go of Rodriguez. Signalling one of the unis to bring him out of the building, Flack instructed,

"Read him his rights and get him to the precinct."

The uni nodded and left together with Rodriguez.

_At the precinct, 11:45 PM:_

As he and Flack entered the interrogation-room Rodriguez lifted his head and glared at them.

"Are you sure that you don't want to request a lawyer?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, like I said, I'm defending myself! So, why am I here?!" He demanded to know, causing Flack and Mac to exchange a look.

While Mac took a seat at the table opposite Rodriguez, Flack leaned against the wall next to the mirror, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"You're under arrest for 13 counts of murder." Mac started, placing pictures of the victims on the table,

"Furthermore you're gonna be charged for the possession and trading of blood diamonds, an especially severe case of drug possession with intent of selling, the illegal possession of firearms..."

"Hey! I still got a constitutional right to protect myself!" Rodriguez interrupted angrily.

"Over 450 firearms, mainly high-caliber weapons? I don't think so," Flack pointed out,

"That has no longer anything to do with self-defense. To me this looks more like illegal arms trading." He paused, and walked toward the table,

"You're also under arrest for the possession of explosives, theft of state property, assaulting and kidnapping of a police officer," And glaring at Rodriguez Flack added, forcing himself not to yell,

"But most of all for the grievous assault and attempted murder of Detective Angell!"

"This time you're not gonna get away - with anything." Mac stated, forcing himself to keep his emotions in check and pushing his own anger away, he watched Flack take some, deep calming breaths.

"You're gonna spend the rest of your life behind bars." Flack concluded.

_Tbc_

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_**A/N:**__Well, thanks for reading! I really hope you liked it. Please do me the favor to review and let me know what ya think!_


	6. Another sleepless night

_**A/N:** __Well, I don't think that there's much to say about this chapter beside maybe the fact that I changed the beginning and made some minor changes throughout the rest before I reposted it..._

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**The Hardest Things**

_6. Another sleepless night_

After quite some time of trying to get Rodriguez to talk, without any results Mac and Flack got up and left the interrogation-room. As they closed the door behind them they saw Chief Sinclair, Captain Carlisle and someone from the DA's office waiting outside the room.

"I expect a detailed report about this case on my desk asap." Sinclair stated and turned to leave.

Looking from Flack to Mac the DA said,

"I have to request to be kept informed about your findings regarding the evidence collected at the warehouse." Seeing Mac nod the man turned as well and followed Sinclair.

A moment later Mac, Carlisle and Flack headed for the squadroom and eventually the Captain spoke up,

"Good work, Detectives." He paused for a moment, then he wanted to know, giving Flack a questioning glance,

"You heard something from Angell?"

"Eh, not yet..."

At that Carlisle nodded in understanding, before giving Flack a pat onto his right shoulder and stating,

"You should call it a day, paperwork can wait 'til tomorrow..."

_Some time later at Mac's place:_

After leaving the precinct Mac had called Stella to check on their progress and had instructed her and the rest of the team to let the remaining work wait until the coming day and get some sleep. When he hung up he decided to call it a day as well and head home. As he unlocked the door he tried to be as quiet as possible considering that it had gotten pretty late by now.

Hearing the key turn in the lock and how the front-door was opened Peyton almost jumped up from the couch and rushed toward Mac, but she forced herself to ignore that urge, instead she turned the volume of the television down and waited for him.

Entering the living-room Mac frowned surprised as he saw that Peyton was still awake. He walked around the couch and sat down next to her, wondering why she wasn't already sleeping. Studying carefully her face he noticed that her eyes were glistening with tears.

Watching him approach Peyton tried to ignore the tears that burnt at the back of her eyes, told herself that there was no reason to let them fall. But when Mac took a seat next to her she felt her walls crumble.

Before he could ask her anything Peyton threw her arms around him for a moment, before her hands clenched his shirt next to her burying face as her tears broke free, and after a moment of surprise he embraced her tightly and drew her closer.

As she felt Mac put his arms around her Peyton closed her eyes and snuggled even closer to him. Listening to the calm, steady beat of his heart she felt how her own started to slow down again. Focusing her attention on the soothing movements of his hands on her back she simply took some deep breaths, inhaling his familiar scent.

While waiting for Peyton's sobs to subside Mac couldn't help but worry about her. After some time he lifted his right hand to her head and let his fingers slide through her hair.

When Peyton had calmed down a bit he gave her a kiss onto the top of her head, then he pulled slightly back and lifted softly her head to look at her face. Wiping the traces of her tears away he asked softly,

"Peyton, why are you still awake?"

Letting her head hang Peyton mumbled,

"I couldn't sleep, I was too worried 'bout you..."

At that Mac frowned and inquired,

"Why were you worried about me?"

Peyton remained quiet for a while, thinking about how to answer, then she took a deep breath and explained,

"You said you'd call, when you didn't I tried to reach you on your cell, at the lab... You didn't answer either call. At first I told myself that you were probably just busy, but..." Peyton paused for a moment, taking some calming deep breaths as she felt her eyes welling up once more,

"But then I saw the news and when Flack mentioned that a detective was seriously injured during the raid..." She went silent and bit her lip, letting her head hang again,

"I thought something might've happened to you..."

Caressing softly her cheek Mac just looked at her for a while, eventually he said,

"I'm sorry, Peyton."

"Don't be. After all, you're okay." Peyton pointed out and straightened up, a tiny smile on her lips.

However, taking a closer look at his appearance Peyton's smile was replaced by a worried frown as she noticed how exhausted he seemed and that there were traces of blood on his shirt, near his left shoulder.

"What happened during the raid?" She wanted to know after a moment of silence.

Following her gaze he noticed for the first time the blood stains on his shirt and couldn't help but sigh.

Letting his fingers slide through Peyton's hair Mac released a sigh and told her,

"Our suspect wanted to flee, Angell tried to stop him, they fought for her gun... After he had taken it from her he hit her with it into the face and pushed her off the roof. She managed to hold on to the roof and I was able to pull her back up."

"My God... Is she okay?" Peyton asked after a moment of silence, worry etched to her voice.

"Well, she has a serious concussion and stubborn as she is she refused to go to a hospital after a paramedic had treated the wound. However, later Flack had to take her to see a doctor because she fainted, though of course she wasn't willing to stay..." Mac sighed, then he added,

"But she's gonna be okay."

"That's good to hear." Peyton stated.

"Yeah, it is..." Mac agreed, then he wanted to know, a slight smile on his face,

"So, what are you watching?"

"Eh, _The Shining_." Peyton replied and focused her attention back on the screen of the TV.

A moment later she leaned her head against his shoulder and he drew her closer. Somehow glad for the distraction from the events of the past day he focused on the movie.

_Some time later:_

As the movie was nearing its end Peyton turned slightly her head to look at Mac. Seeing the distant look in his eyes she couldn't help but frown.

"Mac?" She said after a moment, causing him to focus his attention on her,

"You're okay?"

Lifting his hand and brushing a strand of hair out of her face Mac smiled and replied,

"Yeah, I was just thinking..."

"You're worried about Angell, aren't you?" Peyton asked.

Mac only nodded.

"Well, why don't we try to get some sleep, after all, it's already past one o'clock and the movie is almost over anyways?" Peyton suggested.

"Sounds good..." Mac agreed.

Watching Peyton turn off the DVD-player and TV Mac wondered once again how Angell was doing.

As he followed Peyton to his bedroom a moment later Mac's mind drifted off to all the work that was already waiting for him to return to the lab. Suddenly remembering that he still had to recharge his cell phone he turned around and went back to the living-room.

Noticing that Mac had changed direction Peyton frowned and stopped in the door-way of the bedroom.

Heading to the bedroom Mac couldn't help but smile as he saw that Peyton was waiting for him. When he had reached her he embraced her and gave her a kiss.

As Mac leaned down and kissed her Peyton wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, which became more and more passionate. Breaking away in need for air she smiled cheerfully at him and he lifted his right hand to caress her cheek, while his left arm remained around her waist.

Peyton closed her eyes for a moment, her smile widening when Mac claimed her lips in another passionate kiss. After a moment she began tugging impatiently on his shirt causing him to smile against her lips.

_Half-past two AM:_

_Mac couldn't help but stare in shock into the direction where Angell had disappeared. All he could think about was that this couldn't really be happening - it just couldn't be that their suspect had really pushed her off the roof! _

_Suddenly he heard Angell's voice, she was calling for help and he forced himself to finally move. It seemed to him like an entire eternity passed before he had reached the edge of the roof._

_To his great relief he saw that Angell had been able to hold on to the edge of the roof and he hurried to crouch down, stretching out his hand to get a hold of her left wrist. _

_However, just as his fingertips touched her forearm he saw how her fingers started losing their grip and it seemed to him like everything was suddenly happening in slow-motion._

_His relief turned into fear as he tried frantically to grab her wrist, before it transformed into pure shock as he felt her fingers slip past his hand, their fingertips brushing against each other for a split-second. He heard Angell release a panicked scream, but all he could do was watch in shock how she fell, how she was quickly nearing the pavement._

_He wanted to get up and rush out of the warehouse; wanted to do something - anything - that could change the inevitable. But he couldn't make a single move, the knowledge that he had failed Angell paralyzing his entire body, so instead he had to watch helplessly how she hit the ground..._

Mac woke with a start, bending over he tried hard to regain control over his breathing. He could feel his heart hammering forcibly, as if it wanted to crack his rib-cage open and get out of his chest.

Peyton wasn't sure for how long she had been sleeping when she was woken by something. Sitting up and taking a look around a deep frown appeared on her face as she saw Mac sitting next to her. He was struggling for air and his entire body was shaking. Lifting her right hand to his shoulder she couldn't help but worry. That worry even grew as he flinched when her fingertips brushed against his skin.

As he felt a hand reaching for his shoulder Mac's head jerked up.

"Mac..." He heard Peyton's worried voice, causing him to take a deep breath,

"What's wrong?"

Hearing her question Mac sighed and turned to look at her. Letting his shoulders hang he replied,

"Just a nightmare. Don't worry..." Trailing off he forced a smile on his lips.

"You're sure?" Peyton asked, a doubtful frown on her face.

Putting his arms around Peyton and drawing her into a tight embrace Mac sighed once more. Resting his chin on her head he told her,

"I'm okay... You really don't need to worry."

"Okay..." She said, even though she wasn't really convinced by his answer, but she didn't want to push him, so she chose to simply drop the issue - after all, she knew that the events of the day had probably gotten to him.

Nonetheless she couldn't help but worry considering that she couldn't remember that Mac had ever had woken up from a nightmare before. Sure, she knew that he had a very light sleep most of the time, knew that he often woke up in the middle of the night due to some sort of noise...

A few minutes later she shook softly her head and, pushing her thoughts away, Peyton suggested,

"We should probably better get some more sleep, don't ya think?"

Pulling slightly back Mac smiled at her and agreed,

"Good idea." He bent down and gave her a soft kiss onto her forehead.

After he had laid back Peyton rested her head and left hand on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her.

As his mind drifted off to the events of the past day and his nightmare once more he felt the urge to grab the phone from the nightstand and call Angell, to make sure that she was okay. However, he forced himself to ignore that urge, after all, it was in the middle of the night and beside the fact that he knew that there was no need to worry this much, what should he tell her - that he just called because he had a nightmare, because he had dreamed that she had died? That was simply ridiculous and he knew it, knew that it was totally irrational to get so worried just because of a nightmare - no matter how vivid that dream had been!

But when he closed his eyes he couldn't help releasing a heavy sigh as he saw Angell once again lying on the ground, surrounded by a growing pool of blood, her eyes still wide open in shock and all he could do was staring down at her in disbelief.

He tried to will the images of his nightmare away, but it was pointless and eventually he sighed in frustration and opened his eyes again. Staring at the ceiling he came to the conclusion that he probably won't find to sleep again.

For a while he considered getting up and already leave to get back to the lab and focus on work, however, in the end he decided against it, knowing that he could really use some rest - even if he couldn't sleep.

_Tbc_

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_**A/N:** __Thanks for reading, I hope you liked the chapter! I will try to update soon but I'm not sure when exactly I will be done with the next chapter considering that I've been having trouble to write in the past months. In the meantime I'd really appreciate to hear what ya think so far about the story!_


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